I have return from the land of sweet tea and “yes m’ams” to the frozen tundra of the midwest where we had at least 9 inches of snow last night and are bracing for maybe another 3 tonight. My boys are home from work..having a snow day, ordering pizza and temporarily having major melt downs when the satellite dish freezes up due to the snow falling from the trees onto the roof.

I wanted to thank each and every one of you who came to Jason’s Deli. It was a delight to meet you all. what a beautiful group of young women! I loved being able to put name and faces together and am hoping that I answered all of your questions and concerns. For some of you this was an eye opening experience..recs, rec packets, head shots, sorority dues, house bills, purchase fund accounts. Hopefully when you went to Preview the next day you were enough “in the know” to understand all of the info they were giving you. Trust me ….it can be OVERWHELMING!!!

If any of you need help….please feel free to email me and I am wil be more than happy to help in any way that I can :).

So what’s next?????

Well first of all a few new Panhelleic info sessions have popped onto the horizon.

“Our Sorority Recruitment Informational Meeting will be held Sunday, April 7th from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at Bay Oaks Country Club. All Panhellenic members are encouraged
to invite area high school senior girls interested in finding out more information about
college sorority life, the recruitment process, and registration.”

*********For those of you interested in attending Auburn*****

Auburn’s College Panhellenic is doing presentations in Houston TX and Birmingham, as well as at Camp War Eagle throughout the summer.

“Interest Sessions for High School Seniors
There is no need to pay someone to teach you about sorority recruitment. All summer, we will present at Camp War Eagle to educate our potential members about recruitment as well as sending important updates, so please don’t go to outside consultants for help. This spring, we will be represented at the following meetings, which are FREE to high school seniors interested in sorority life. We are only represented at the meetings listed below. Click on the town to learn more!
* March 2, 2013- Birmingham, Alabama”

********For those of you in the Arlington Texas area*****

Arlington TX

For high school senior girls wanting to learn more about college sorority life, a meeting to get the scoop is planned for April 7 at 3 p.m. at the Central Library, 101 E. Abram St.

The session, hosted by Arlington Alumni Panhellenic Association, is intended for girls and parents who want to learn more about sorority recruitment, (formerly referred to as “rush).” Students in Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie and Kennedale are invited.

Hope these help!!!!! If there is one in your area I would encourage you to go! Great info…you get to meet lots of sorority alums and possibly enlist their help to write recs.

So where do you go to from here???

Even if your college doesn’t have Preview Weekend like The University of Alabama (which..although it’s a very long day I think it is definitely worth the trip) here are some suggestions about what you need to be doing now to prepare for recruitment 2013/2104.

Just like Santa hopefully you have been making a list and checking it twice when it come to recommendations. I know that for some of you this was new news this past weekend. For those of you who are going through recruitment at competitive recruitment campuses recs are a must. Yes…i know…that Panhellenics will stand up and tell that IF a sorority is interested in you that they will find a rec for you. Yes…this is true but in very rare cases does a PNM get to this point. DON”T” let this lull you into a sense of security. At ALL competitive recruitment campuses, to have the best chance at receiving a bid , PNMs need one and preferably 2 recs per sorority. If you cannot find recs for houses amongst family, friends, friends of friends then you will need to reach out to your local Panhellenic and/or the different sorority alum groups in your area.

This process can be VERY time-consuming!!! So start NOW!!!! if you haven’t already. If you need help let me know…I can help find Panhellenic groups as well as alum groups in your area. I can also help with the proper form of email to send to ask for recs.

If you do no have a resume that is formatted in sorority form then you need to do this now. There is a very specific format that is used. You can fudge with it a little but when alums are writing recs there is specific information that they need in order to fill out the rec form completely. Remember this is your chance to brag on you. List anything and everything that you have participated in, both in and out of school as well as philanthropy and volunteer activities for the past 4 years.

One of the areas that girls seem to forget is philanthropy that is tied to Honor Society and clubs. List all of the philanthropy opportunities that you have had while being a member of these organizations. Don’t forget to add the years or grades that you participated.

A lot of people ask…why recs and resumes? The answer is simple! This past weekend at Alabama we had appx. 1400 young women and their parents show up for Preview Weekend. Of course we know that many young women did not make the trip to Tuscaloosa because of conflicts ect. So rule of thumb is you take half of what came to Preview (700) and add it to the Preview number and that’s about how many young women you can expect for Formal recruitment. If that holds true then appx 2100 young women will begin recruitment at Alabama in August. That’s up by 200 girls from last year. Last year quota was 85 and some houses took in the 100’s. HUGE pledge classes. If the formula works the same this year we will again have pledge classes of 90 or more.

So …..if you do no have a resume and you do not have recs for a house then chances are they have no idea you are coming through recruitment and unfortunately you will be lost in the shuffle of girls. While recs and resumes don’t guarantee bids they do bring girls onto the sorority’s radar. Remember I have said over and over again that every sorority across the US will put together a list of attributes that they would like to have in their PNMs. The first way they identify these traits is by receiving recs and resumes.

The next step is to pull the res and resumes together into recommendation packets that you will either mail or personally deliver to the alums who have so generously agreed to write recommendations for you.

What goes in this packet?? A copy of your resume, 2 pictures of yourself..one full body shot and one head shot, a brief letter of introduction telling a little about why you chose the school you did, what you are planning on majoring in, what you love to do and why you want to go Greek. You will add a copy of your unofficial transcript. you will need to send your official transcript to where ever your campuses Panhellenic tells you to when it becomes available. Please enclose an addressed, stamped envelope for the alum to mail the resumes, pics, rec and a letter of support if she chooses to write one. The addresses are generally available on the Panhellenic website. If they are not there they call Panhellenic and ask where to send them. In some cases you may have to go to the particular sorority’s website to find the address. Finally, include a hand written thank you note to the woman who wrote your rec. Trust me we really appreciate the fact that you have taken your time to write these.

In most cases rec packets should be in the hands of your rec writers no later than late April. If your campus has an august recruitment date then the packets need to be to the recruitment chairs no later than July 1st. I have always preferred that the recs get to the recruitment chair before she goes home on summer break. While some recruitment chairs may stay on campus to take classes ect other will not. that leaves the mail to be picked up by another member and saved for the chair when she returns or it just piles up in the post office. The latter usually doesn’t happen but it can.

So here’s my worry…If your recs are sent in over the summer there is a greater probability of them getting lost or misplaced. That’s why I say get 2..at least you have a 50/50 chance of at least one getting there. I would suggest that if you can…get the rec writers to mail the recs in before the girls go on summer break.

A word of advice….go right now onto your schools Panhellenic website and check to see if the date for registration for Formal recruitment is posted. If it is then make sure you put a reminder in your planner, your phone, your ipad….don’t miss the date. Sure you can usually register up to the day recruitment begins but it is usually cheaper earlier on. In addition for schools that put out recruitment publications (like Greek Chic in Alabama’s case) the earlier you register the higher up you are on the list and the better chance you have that this will arrive before you leave for recruitment.

Check all of your social media to make sure it is squeaky clean!!! You would be amazed what sorority women can dig up (even old alums like myself that are techno challenged have managed to find things that were not favorable to a PNM).

Am going to stop there today. Tomorrow will post common mistakes on resumes and a little about what you might want to be keeping your eyes out for when shopping for sorority life. I have a feeling some of you have a whole lotta work to do right now!!!!